Adventure travel is steadily on the rise, according to a
survey of members of the Virtuoso Active and Specialty Travel (VAST) program.
Of those surveyed — agents and suppliers — 95% said they
have seen adventure, active and specialty travel sales increase in the past
year, and the same percentage predicted demand would continue to increase over
the next two to three years.
“Several factors are driving adventure travel’s popularity,
as cited by respondents: communing with nature, checking experiences off a
bucket list, spending quality time together on family and multigenerational
trips, and the ability of today’s older travelers to be more active due to
improved longevity and health,” Virtuoso said.
The majority of adventure travelers do skew older, according
to the survey. It found the majority of experiential travelers, 41%, are
between 50 and 65 years old, followed by ages 35 to 50 (24%). Twenty-one
percent of experiential travelers are 65-plus, and 14% are under 35. Couples
are the most common adventure travelers, followed by families, friend groups,
solo travelers and multigenerational family members.
Adventure travelers are most interested in hiking/trekking,
according to the survey, followed, respectively, by biking, kayaking,
small-ship expedition cruising, food and wine, safaris/wildlife viewing,
walking, photography, scuba diving and arts and culture.
Destination-wise, the survey revealed the top destinations
gaining in popularity for adventure travelers are Iceland, Galapagos/Ecuador,
Costa Rica and Chile/Patagonia (tied for third place), New Zealand, Peru, Cuba,
Antarctica, the Arctic/North Pole, South Africa and Australia.
Virtuoso’s survey was conducted from February to April and
got input from 125 VAST agents and suppliers.